Baby Seat Strap

ABSTRACT

A two-piece strap has conjugate proximal ends and conjugate branched distal ends, which are adapted to loop around a supporting structure, such as the arms of a chair, to secure a child in an infant seat to the structure. The strap serves the dual function of securing the infant in the baby seat and securing the baby seat to an anchor structure. Also, each end of the strap can be independently secured to an anchor structure, as compared to previous inventions in which the straps wrap around the supporting structure. This design affords greater adaptability to various anchor structures, such as the arms of a chair or the sides of a shopping cart.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of means for securing an infant in a transportable seat. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of restraining means used to confine an infant in a transportable seat and to secure the seat to a supporting structure.

The previous patents in the field of child restraints address booster seats and harnesses. Examples of booster seats are disclosed in the U.S. patents of Meeker et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,311), Nelson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,692,072), Tomas et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,813) and Liu (U.S. Pat. No. 7,854,476). All of these designs use separate straps dedicated to either restraining the infant or securing the seat to a support structure, rather than combining both functions in one strap. The securing straps have mutually mating ends designed to wrap around a supporting structure, as opposed to independently-attachable strap ends. Since the straps of these inventions are permanently attached to the seat, they cannot be used interchangeably with other baby seats.

Examples of child harnesses are disclosed in the U.S. patents of Alexander et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,210) and Berdahl (U.S. Pat. No. 7,073,866). As with the booster seat patents, the harness patents lack dual functionality, since the strap secures only the infant, and not his/her seat, to the support structure. Independently-attachable strap ends are also not featured in these inventions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention comprises a two-piece strap, wherein the proximal ends have mating buckles, and the distal ends are bifurcated, with mating buckles at the ends of the branches. The distal buckles, when connected, form an adjustable loop for securing the distal ends of the strap to an anchor structure, such as a chair, shopping cart, etc. Optionally, the distal buckles can be interchangeable to accommodate existing connectors on the anchor structure. In use, the strap is inserted through the seat-belt slots in the baby seat and secured around the infant with the proximal buckles. Then the distal buckles are connected to the anchor structure, thereby securing the baby seat to that structure.

The present invention fundamentally differs from previous inventions insofar as the strap serves the dual function of securing the infant in the baby seat and securing the baby seat to an anchor structure. Also, each end of the strap can be independently secured to an anchor structure, as compared to previous inventions in which the straps wrap around the supporting structure. This design affords greater adaptability to various anchor structures, such as the arms of a chair or the sides of a shopping cart.

The foregoing summarizes the general design features of the present invention. In the following sections, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in some detail. These specific embodiments are intended to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing the present invention in accordance with the general design features discussed above. Therefore, the detailed descriptions of these embodiments are offered for illustrative and exemplary purposes only, and they are not intended to limit the scope either of the foregoing summary description or of the claims which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a front perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 1B is a detail view of the proximal ends of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with alternate mating buckles;

FIG. 2 is a detail view of one of the distal ends of the preferred embodiment of the present invention with interchangeable buckles; and

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the present invention deployed in securing an infant and baby seat to the arms of a chair, shown in ghost view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The preferred embodiment of the present invention 10 comprises a first strap member 11 and a second strap member 12. The proximal ends of the first 11 and second 12 strap members are detachably connectable by mating proximal buckles, comprising a proximal male buckle 13 that, when inserted, releasably locks within a conjugate proximal female buckle 14. One or more means 15 are provided for adjusting the lengths of one or both strap members 11 12, such as the sliding loop adjuster 15 depicted in FIG. 1A.

The distal end of each strap member is split into a male distal branch 16 and a female distal branch 17, which terminate in mating distal male 18 and female 19 buckles, respectively. One or more means 20 are provided for adjusting the lengths of one or both distal branches 16 17, such as the pull strap 20 depicted in FIG. 1A.

FIG. 1B depicts an alternate version of the mating proximal male 13 and female 14 buckles, in which seat-belt type buckles are used instead of the snap-in type buckles shown in FIG. 1A. In this version, the means for adjusting the length of the second strap member 12 is a pull strap 15.

Optionally, as depicted in FIG. 2, one or both of the distal branches 16 17 of each strap member 11 12 can have interchangeable distal buckles. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a distal buckle connector 21 accepts, through conjugate buckle connectors 22, different types of interchangeable distal buckles 23, which are specifically adapted to existing cooperating buckles or straps on a support structure, such as a car seat or a shopping cart.

FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary use of the present invention 10 to secure a child in an infant car seat to the arms of a chair. The distal branches 16 17 of each strap member 11 12 are wrapped around the arms of the chair and their mating buckles 18 19 are snapped together. The pull strap 20 is then tightened to secure the looped distal branches 16 17 to the arms of the chair. After the strap members 11 12 are threaded through the seat belt slots in the car seat and around the torso of the child, the proximal buckles 13 14 are snapped together and the strap 10 is tightened with the loop slide 15.

Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many additions, modifications and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention as defined by the accompanying claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A strap, which secures a child in a seat and at the same time secures the seat to an anchor structure, comprising: a first strap member and a second strap member; wherein the proximal ends of the first and second strap members are releasably connectable by conjugate proximal connecting means; wherein the distal end of each strap member is split into two distal branches, which are releasably connectable by conjugate distal connecting means; wherein the distal end of each strap member is adapted to be secured to the anchor structure by forming a loop around the anchor structure with the two distal branches, and interconnecting the two distal branches by the distal connecting means; and wherein the first and second strap members are adapted to encompass both the child and the seat and secure them together to the anchor structure by using the proximal connecting means to interconnect the two strap members.
 2. The strap according to claim 1, wherein the lengths of one or both strap members is adjustable, thereby enabling the strap to be tightened around the child and the seat to better secure them to the anchor structure.
 3. The strap according to claim 2, wherein the lengths of one or more of the distal branches is adjustable, thereby enabling the loop around the anchor structure to be tightened to better secure the distal ends of the strap to the anchor structure.
 4. The strap according to claim 3, wherein the distal connecting means are interchangeable, thereby enabling the distal ends of the strap to be connected to various cooperating connecting means on the anchor structure. 